Motive-power apparatus.



C. H.;ATKINS.

MOTI'VE POWER APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 4, 1904.

Patented Mar. 8, 1910.

tlve-power apparatus,

To all whom it may concern:

,Kn s,

county of Hampden and CHARLES HENRY ATKINS, OI SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

mozrfvn-rowna nrrena'rus.

Application filed November 4, 1904. SeriaLNo. 231,387.

Be it known that I, CHARLES HENRY Agra citizen of the United States of America, and resident of State of Massachw setts, have invented oertainnew and useful Improvements in Motive-Power A of which the following is a full, c exact description. v

This invention relates to an improved mohaving for its object to acquire a maximum of power from a. given ex enditure of liquid fuel.

he high eificiency in power is acquired by conserving all of the'heat, both thatof radiatlon and that .of exhaust from the gas;or other analogous engine embodied in the apparatus and utilizing-the same, through suit able mediums, for augmentingthe efiiciency of the air cylinder, also comprised in the apparatus, and from which air cylinder the power purposes is tained b. this invention is found in what is terme an unusual flexibility, as a result of which an automobile, launch, or other vehicle to be propelled, may be driven at a maximum speed, or'at any degree ofspeed below the maximum, as occasion may require.

In carrying out the invention, provide in the motive power apparatus, in- 006 erative combination, a gas engine for driving an air compressor, said gas engine having its cylinders surrounded by a acketed chamber for, preferably, oil, a closed tank .or receptacle also containing oil, and pipe-comnected with the oil chamber or the gasengine, and through which passes the conduit which carries the air from the compressor. to the air engine, in such amanner as to establish a circulation of oil heated from the radiation of the gas engine cylinders through the closed tank for materially ralsing the temperature and effectiveness of the compressed air which is carried to the air en 'ne. And I furthermore extend the circu ation of the oil, heated as aforesaid, to.

and through a chamber surrounding the air cylinder of the air en 'ne, for beneficial efi'ect in the operation the latter. And I furthermore increase the heat of the 011 already heated from the radiation of the gas engine cylinder, and effective for heatin the air to be carried to the air engine, and for heating also the air-engine cyhnder, by sub- Springfield, in the paratus, ear, and

- the accompanying jecting the oil in the closed tank to the heat- 111 action of the exhaust products from the cylinder of the more embody in the ap aratus, particular forms, combinations and parts all substantially as hereinafter fully described and set forth in the claims.

The improved ap aratus is illustrated in rawingin which,

F igure 1 is substantially a vertical longitudinal central sectional View. Fig. 2 is a sectiona view as taken'vertically through the air .engine included in the apparatus on the line 22, Fig. "1. Fig. 3 is a sectional 1 Patented Mar. 8,1910.

gasqengine. 'And I furtherarrangements of view vertically through a portion of the heating drumor rece )tacle and an expans1on chamber provide thereto."

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all of the views.

The apparatus is shown as arranged to be mountec on, and for drivingan automobile. A represents a gas engine of ordmaryor approved construction, having a jacketed,

chamber a surroundingits cylinder in which the piston 20 works; and 22 indicates the 10- catlon of the inlet through which the ex plosive charges are intro uced into the engme, as carried through the conduit 23, from.

the liquid fuel supply 24, and generally havingra carburetor connected therewith.

he piston rod of the gas engine has connection with the crank shaft 0, which is in driving connection with an air com pressor B, which may beof any desired .t Y e.

2 represents a pipe for carrying the hot exhaust products of combustion away from the as en ine A, the same beingcontinued in the coil b which is inclosed within a drum-or heating receptacle D, suitably lo catedpand h represents a continuation of the pipe h and coil h terminatin and endwise open outside of the receptac e D.

E represents an airengine here shown as of the type comprising an oscillating cylinder, and having the jacketed chamber m surroundiiw its cylinder, which cylinder also has hollow trminions,'one of which constitutes means for the ingress and egress of compressed and heatedair into, and from the cylinder while the other-hollow trunnion is in communication as represented at the left ,hand portion of Fig. 2, with the chamber m surroundinmtheair engine cylinder.

A pipe 6 leads from the jacketed chamber (which is .an oil filled chamber) of the gas en me into the heating drum D, and a iiip e" (l eads from the interior of the heating receptacle into the jacketedchamber m sur rounding"thencyl-inder or the air engine and piped? leads from the jacket m of the air engine ultimately back to the jacketed chamber a of the gas engine,'-a centrifugal 3 pump F being shown as connected in the ast scribed conduit for the oil in circulation from the gas engine jacket a to and throu h the heating receptacle D thence to and tirough the jacket m surroimding the v the air engine.

air engine cylinder.

9 indicates the pipe for carrying the compressed air from the air compressor B to and through the pipe coil g inclo'sed within the rec'e tacle D, this coil beingcontinued beyond t e receptacle in the pipe sections 9 to the inlet portofthe air engine E, and g represents the air 'exhaust ,or waste pipe of 13 represents a receiver or reservoir, which may be considered as a part of the air compressor.

The aforementioned pump F for the oil is shown as on the shaft C, driven by the gas-engine and driving the air com ressor.

f represents an expansion cham er opening into the drum or heating receptacle D, and having a piston f therein, above which is the spring f surrounding the guiding stem f.

A body ofoil m fills the jacketed chambers surrounding the gas engine cylinder and the air engine cylinder also filling the receptacle D and the conduits connecting these chambers and receptacle. The heatfrom the explosive gas 1n the gas engine A materially heats the'oil surrounding the cylinder of such engine; and the oil in circulation. from the gas engine chamber a to and throu h the drum D is furthermore very consigerably-heatedby the exhausting and very hot gases passing to and through the eflects of the exhaustinggas passing through the drum, and of .th e highly heated oil in the drum, and hence the'efiiciency of the compressed air 'for expansive react-ion in the airengine is greatly increased.

The pump, while not a necessity,-is a practical expedient readily combined in the apparatus for positively causing the oil circu-, lation through the ap aratus as described, and its location may e in any convenient place in such circulation.

The provision of the expansion chamber 7' in connection with the receptacle D, is to j ever, that the oscillating closed liquid receptacle,

rounding its cylinder,

lthele'nd of avoiding anystraining or burstins and to fill the drum.

effect on said receptacle bythegheated m While the liquid employed in circulation 1n the ackets of the gas and air engines and in the drum is herein referredto in the descr ption above as oil other liquid or fluid might, without any departure from the invention as here contemplated, be employed in substitution for oil; and I do not intend I to be understood as limiting the invention to the inclusion therein of gas and air engines or an air compressor, or pump, of any specific typefnor is the invention limited to any particular mode of transmission of the power developed by the air engine to the running gear of the automobile, or to other expanding oil, which is intended always machinery which may be driven by this mo- I have shown, how- I air engine has driving connection with the crank G of a countershaft H, which is provided with a tive power apparatus.

sprocket wheel 2' driving a sprocket chain j, ,which runs around the sprocket wheel is on the axle L of the automobile, the body of which is indicated as spring supported on the running gearframe M.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In agmotive-power apparatus, a gas engine having a jacketed chamber, and an air engine having a jacketed chamber, an air compressor driven by the gas engine a connections or liquid circulation between said receptacle, the gas engine chamber and the air-engine chamber, connections, for heating the liquid contents of said receptacle leadin to the latter from the exhaust passage or the gas engine, and an air pipe having connection Wi h the air compressor extending through said liquid receptacle, and continued to connection with the working cylinder of the air engine.

2. In an apparatus scribed, in combination,,a gas engine having an oil containing jacketed chamber suran air compressor a"--"closed oil containing receptacle having a coiled air pipe therein and having another coiled pipe therein, at one end connected with the exhaust passage of the gas engine, and having its other end extended outwardly from 'said receptacle, taining jacketed chamber surrounding its driven by the gas engine,

cylinder, a conduit between theoil conan air engine having-an oil'conof the character dechamber of the gas engine, a conduit connecting the air compressor with one end of the said air pipe coil and another. conduit connecting the other end of the air pipe coil 7 air compressor driven .closed mg a body of 'oil therein and filling and cirfromathe air culatin by way of said conduits through the jacietegi chamber of the gas engine, an expansion chamber for oil in connection with the closed receptacle, an air conduit leading compressor through the oil in said tank and continued ,therebeyond and connectin into the cylinder of, and for operating, t e air engine, and a conduit for carrying the-exhaust products of the gas engine to said closed receptacle and for heating the oil therein and the air conducted therethrough.

4. In a motive power apparatus, incombinatlon, a gas engine having a jacketed chamber, an air engine and an air com pressor driven by the gas engine, a" "closed tank, a pipe leading from the air compressor into and continued in a coil within said closed tank, and further continued froxnthe latter to the working cylinder of the air engine, a body of liquid in said closed tank and in the jacketed chamber of the gas engine, pipes leading from the closed tank to sald gas engine chamber and from said chamber returningto the closed tank, and a pipe leading from the exhaust (passage of the gas engine to, and continue in a coil within, the closed tank,and having an extension open to the atmosphere externally of said tank.

Signed by me at Springfield, Mass, in

presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES HENRY ATKINS Witnesses:

WM. S. Bnnno'ws, G, R, DRISCOLL. 

